Definitions of Love

As I look out the window from my kitchen table today, I am enamored by the deep clear blue sky, the leaves of the tall Maples across the road displaying their full array of fall colors and the relative warmth of our 64 degree weather.  People that live in our area talk about how they love the weather, the multifaceted landscape of meadows, valleys and mountains, as well as our proximity to the cosmopolitan city of San Francisco.  If you have ever noticed, most people use the word “love” to describe their attraction to a wide variety of objects, people, places, and pets.  It is a word that we toss around quite freely.

John 15:9 talks about “love” saying, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in my love.” (NKJV)  The Literal Translation of the Holy Bible says “to continue in my love.”  Young’s Literal Translation encourages us to “remain in my love.”  So we see here that Jesus is instructing us to continue in the same kind of “love” that both He and our heavenly Father exemplified.

Just what is this kind of “love?”  Is it loving where you live?  Loving your spouse, your house, your dog or what you had for dinner last night?  How would you express the “love” of the Father toward us?  In one word, Jesus!  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (John3:16 NKJV)  Another way to describe this “love” as well as the “love” that Jesus demonstrated would be to say God explained His “love” to us by His actions.

In the last three plus years that we have been back in our home town and dealing with my wife’s situation we have seen many who have talked a good word toward us, even strong words of faith, but have neglected to follow through with actions.  Lots of suggestions but little personal involvement.  The God kind of “love” that I have come to intimately know over this same period of time tells me that He loved His creation so much that He became personally involved with them in the daily concerns and needs of their lives. 

When people were sick, Jesus went to their homes without question.  When people had other needs He assisted them.  He continually and selflessly gave of Himself to the point that His immediate family was concerned for His health!  Is that the same way that you and I “love” others in our lives?  I can honestly look back and say that this has not always been true for me.  Many times the daily activities of my life were just too important for me to take a small detour in order to go and help someone else.  Now that the shoe is on the other foot, I am seeing life and more importantly “love” -  Godly “love” from a different standpoint.

What is your personal definition of the kind of “love” that Jesus was talking about in John 15:9?  Are there any areas of it that may need to be adjusted?  I know that I am making daily adjustments!  Experience can sometimes be a hard taskmaster, but I would rather learn now with a few bumps, than live my life without ever really learning what it truly means to continue or remain in Christ’s “love.”  And you know… when all is said and done, the extra effort it takes to give of yourself to others is well worth the peace that you feel deep inside.  If you listen real closely you can hear Him saying to you: “Well done good and faithful servant (or in our case it would be ‘son’ or ‘daughter’!); thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter into the joy of thy lord.”  (Matthew 25:23 KJV)

Have a great day today!  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today”